CHAPTER FIVE: THE STOLEN SOUL

Thanatos claimed the soul that night, he felt victorious against Riona. Chained and confined, the spirit followed him without struggling.

Riona still stood there looking at the body feeling sad and defeated, Lydia came in and observed the situation, she tapped on her shoulder and said,

" We did all we could, don't be hard on yourself "

" We didn't do enough," Riona's voice whispered back in response.

" We can still do better" she continued,

Riona stood upright looking at the patient's body and smiled, Lydia and the whole group saw this and were surprised. Lydia had to go closer to her friend to confirm if she was okay, or gradually going mad.

Riona looked up at the board members, she smiled and said.

" He is not dead, I can feel it,"

Everyone including the director was surprised at what she was saying,

" What are you saying Riona, stop spitting nonsense, this patient is dead," the director said from a distance, 

Riona shook her head in disagreement, still smiling, she responded.

" I want to keep operating director, I can just feel it this man is not dead, please just let me keep operating"

The director saw how determined she was through the smile she wore, and nodded in agreement, everyone was surprised because they knew the further they operated on the patient, it might cause more problems for them later. The board were not in support of this decision and they complained, the director tried convincing them still despite all the efforts they were not buying the idea, he went ahead to put his position on the line and said,

" if it fails, I will take responsibility and step down" 

They thought about it a little and agreed, but they all left the room because they didn't want to be part of it any longer. At that time Riona's voice echoed out.

" There is no time director"

The director nodded and said…

" continue with the surgery"

Riona nodded with gratitude in her eyes. Jonathan was not buying the idea at all, because he saw death taking the soul of the patient, he went closer to Riona and asked..

" Are you sure about this?"

Riona looked at him and smiled, Jonathan was shocked at how composed she was, but he knew he could not talk her out of it so he let her be.

Meanwhile, Thanatos was heading out with the captured soul when the soul said…

" I can feel my soul being called back to my body"

Thanatos stopped and the smile on his face beneath the hood disappeared,

" What do you mean?" his voice echoed with curiosity.

Immediately, before Thanatos could finish responding, the chain broke and the soul was dragged back through the route in the hospital they had come from. Thanatos saw how everything happened and angry and curious he headed back to the emergency room.

While in the ER, everyone was focused on the operation, when Jonathan saw the soul of the patient dashing back into his body, he didn't know what had happened but this was new to him. 

Riona continued the surgery asking herself why and how she chose to continue with the surgery, even after knowing the patient was dead, she shook her head and dispelled all thoughts in her mind when suddenly her eyes became shiny blue and she could see the internal organs of the patient like she was looking through a transparent glass.

Riona looked up to look at Lydia, she could also see her internal organs. Surprised, she asked herself,

"What's happening to me?",

She looked back at the body of the patient when she noticed an object blocking blood from flowing into the patient's heart. She decided to open that section of the body to check it out.

After she cut the body open, she checked the area, she felt the object, she took it out, to everyone's surprise, it was glass but that was not what surprised them, what surprised them was the fact that Riona knew it was there. 

After she took the glass out she forced the heart by using her hands to massage it gently from inside, while doing that the machine beeped and his heart started beating again everyone was forced to stop and stare at her in amazement.

The director watched how everything played out and was lost for words, he couldn't believe his eyes. Thanatos witnessed the surgery and how everything played out, he went close to the patient and observed him, while he stood there, promptly, Riona raised her head and saw the dark figure in front of her, she closed her eyes immediately thinking it was her imagination and when she opened them she could no longer see Thanatos; the mysterious eyes had changed back to her normal eyes, this kind of proved to her that it was her imagination. 

Thanatos left the ER, and once again he was defeated, he checked his list and noticed the name had disappeared again. He was angry but not that angry, this time what he felt was more of a lot of curiosity, he was curious that all he wanted to do was to get to the bottom of who Riona was and how she could challenge him not once but twice and maybe more challenges in the future. He left the hospital and went ahead to retrieve more souls on his list, while he left, a little smile showed on his face slightly.

" This is getting interesting," he thought to himself.

The surgery was successful, Riona went ahead and closed up all the cuts on the patient's body, after she was done, she let out a lot of air and whispered.

" Wow! That was wild, we could have lost him"

Lydia came behind her and whispered, also saying,

" But we didn't, thanks to you, how did you even know…."

She stopped and smiled at Riona, 

" You sure are a miracle".

The director complimented everyone's effort and gave the order to round up the process, he left the room to go speak to the patient's family, they had waited throughout the surgery, and it was time to give them the good news.

Riona looked at the patient one more time and whispered in his ears.

" You are indeed a strong one, get well soon".